User:Chris hobson/Gillygan

=Gillygan=

A golfing term similar to Mulligan. Whilst a Mulligan allows a shot to be cancelled and replayed, a Gillygan allows a better result to be attributed to a previous shot.

Standard Gillygan
Gillygans are most common on the putting surface, when the hole is missed - the use of the Gillygan allows the ball to be considered to have been holed. Typical uses are for greens that are too slow, too bumpy or when the hole has been positioned in the wrong place by the greenkeepers.

Retrospective Gillygan
A retrospective Gillygan allows a better result to be attributed to a shot that was not the immediately previous shot. As an example, when a ball is bladed from bunker A to bunker B, and is then played to the green from bunker B. The shot from bunker A to B may be cancelled if, for example, there was insufficient sand in bunker A. The user of the retrospective Gillygan therefore attributes the good result to the shot from bunker A, and hence the shot from bunker B was never considered to have been played.

The Windygan
A specialist Retrospective Gillygan only allowed when wind speeds are above 25 miles per hour. The Windygan allows a ball to be replayed if the flight of the original ball is adversely affect by side spin. The Windygan cancels the previous shot and allows a second ball to be play without penalty.

Moving Gillygan
The moving Gillygan is for cases where a ball cannot be played as desired due to some obstruction. Typically the ball can be moved if the green keepers have left grass, logs or trees in incorrect locations. To be considered legal the Gillygan must be made by the deft use of club, normally a wedge. Moving Gillygans must be made using only one hand, and are often executed by a wrist flick.

The type of Gillygan is often executed during an apparently nonchalant walk to the ball (hence moving) and so can be difficult for playing partners to accurately detect that the Gillygan has actually been invoked.

Future Gillygan
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a player is entitled to one Gillygan per 9 holes. However in situations where a very good score is being compiled it would be foolish to not allow extra Gillygans to ensure a great result. It is therefore permissible to borrow Gillygans from a round, as yet, unplayed. As with the Moving Gillygan the use of a Future Gillygan is almost impossible to correctly monitor, and determining the repayment game can prove a challenge.